Drunken Babysitter Drives Kids to School with a 0.46 Blood Alcohol Level

Sherry Ambolino was charged with endangering the welfare of children after packing 4 kids into a minivan for an incredibly drunken drive across town.

Sherry Ambolino, 41, of Richland Penn.,
was summoned to a local elementary school on Friday morning to pick up her
sickly son from the infirmary. The time was 9.40 am, and her blood alcohol
level at that time was 0.46 – just under 6 times the legal limit.

Ambolino was noticed as intoxicated at the school, and police
were called to intervene. Waiting in her minivan were 4 additional children,
aged 7 months to 4 years – children under her care from an informal home
daycare set-up. Ambolino was arrested while still on school grounds.

The drunken babysitter has been charged with endangering the
welfare of children and DUI and she will sit before a judge in early July. The
defense attorney, Dale A. Reichley, has said that he does not expect adversarial
proceedings and speculated about a guilty plea and a plea bargain.

Montgomery County Pathologist, Walter I. Hoffman, explained
that such an extremely high blood alcohol content could be fatal, saying, "I’ve
seen people die at as low as 0.2."

Reichley reported that personal problems in the months prior
to the incident led to her heavy drinking, and reported that she was now
participating in an intensive outpatient alcohol treatment program.

Here are 2 facts about alcoholism: It tends to get worse over time (it is progressive) and most people experience a fairly similar progression of symptoms and consequences. Here is a timeline which charts the progressive experiences of alcoholism through the early, middle and late stages. If you have a drinking problem, find out where you fall on the timeline and consider what’s coming in the future.